3D Glasses manipulate the brain to distort reality. The flimsy 3D cardboard glasses, with their cellophane like red and blue filters, are innocent predecessors to an upcoming world that will incorporate using 3D images to manipulate images in the brain into our daily lifestyle. There's no doubt that 3D images have numerous practical applications, even today. But what about tomorrow? Will our definition of ?practical application? change?

Security is a practical application of the use of 3D Glasses and 3D Images in virtual reality. Flight simulators have long been used since at least WWII. Today, contracts listed at the US defense website (www.defenselin.mil) list millions of dollars worth of contracts specializing in ?modeling, simulation and stimulation.? Technology companies battle for million-dollar defense contracts, as virtual gaming contracts become standard in Military budgeting for training and development, which amounts to approximately $50 billion dollars of the $480 billion dollar budget .

The United States Navy and other military branches use 3D images through specially crafted 3D glasses to produce a virtual reality that gives the trainees a far more advanced training, and a truer realization of the ?nature of the beast? they will be battling. 3D glasses aren't the only method for simulation techniques. Color, angle and motion all affect the binocular vision that our eyes and brain communication systems are naturally programmed for. The defense department uses a combination of these techniques to provide a variety of simulations, ranging from terrain and battle simulations to stimulated training techniques for welding and educational purposes. The defense department defends it expenditures on virtual gaming in department reports that claim virtual training reduces injuries, costs, and training hours.

The 3D glasses that have paved the way for 3D computer graphics have also brought about many practical applications in the health industry. Active members in the forces that use prosthetic devices participate in 3D movement experiments that demonstrate the actual movement of their body in relation to the prosthetic device, allowing them to more accurately control their body movements. Virtual-reality labs allow patients to stand on moving stages while digital cameras flash at faster than 120 times per second to capture movement on a 3D screen. This simulates the patients? movements in motion, such as standing on a moving boat. Studying these simulations allow doctors and patients to work together to improve their muscle control and accuracy.

3D Glasses are innocent enough to be affiliated with gaming. Optical illusions and 3D images during gaming provide a source of entertainment that is now a part of our expectations in the industry. Simulating reality certainly has its advantageous applications. But the question is, will we begin stimulating a reality to our enemies using these same techniques? Will science lead us to the capabilities to stimulate a vision of pain and suffering that is non-existent, but yet very real? Does virtual reality have the potential to end war and produce a civilized society, or will it only encourage it?

Scientists must continue to use their safety glasses to discern the long-term effects from virtual reality. 3D glasses might just help them do that.